Saturday, January 28, 2012

Don’t Resign From Reading This Book!

FIVE STARS REVIEW: The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing To Be The Church’s Backbone? by Jim Henderson

This book has been beneficial to me as a pastor.

If you are in ministry and want to read a book that will help you understand the “backbone” of the church, read this book. If you are someone who is interested in women in ministry, read this book.

Author Jim Henderson shows that “if women walked out the door, the church would be in grave trouble” (p. 238). He backs that up by stating that researcher George Barna calls women “the backbone of activity in the typical conventional church” and provides a deluge of statistics.

What is sincere and earnest about this book is not the data and figures, but rather the personal stories of women and their relationship to the Church that Henderson has meticulously collected andorganized. As a female pastor, I found the stories informational, eye-opening, and some even heart-wrenching. Some women have resigned to leave the Church because of how they have been treated or not allowed to use their leadership talents and abilities in which they believe God has gifted them.

Reading this book has made me even more aware of the value of women’s voices in the church and a reminder that everyone is gifted. Women are important to God, so women should also be important to the Church. It is our role as pastors and those in ministry to help each person—women and men alike—live into those giftings so that they may further the Gospel mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

*Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

2 comments:

Thanks for the thoughtful review of Jim's book. I am currently a church refugee having left after feeling I was no longer seen, heard, or valued. More than that, I felt punished for being myself. (Having been part of church since my early childhood - making it more than 50+ years of my life, it was after being on staff a my church - a megachurch that I began to leave. I have not been a regular attendee of any church in more than 3 years.)

I would like to invite you and your readers to our upcoming free - Resignation of Eve Cloud Conference on Feb. 27 @8pm EST – you only need a telephone to join the call and have a chance to participate in a conversation with Jim and the women of RoE when we virtually break you into small groups. http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/D5YMSUE4530RMOB – Hope you are able to join us. Thanks, Elaine Hansen www.resignationofeve.com